I wouldn't call it spirituality. I call it being rational. It comes from a decision to cast my lot with the Spirit of truth and reject a spirit of perversity and a smooth and easy life of of perpetual pretense
By thinking, RUMINATING, its easy. You should try it
Smooth and easy life of perpetual pretense? Do you think being Catholic and following Catholic Doctrine is easy? Even for someone who's faith is strong and has lived a fruitful life, full of good works, deeds - their life is not a "smooth and easy life of perpetual pretense".
As far as Catholics "ruminating" and being "rational" - The Catholic Church helped build the foundations of modern science...
The relationship between
science and the Catholic Church is a widely debated subject. Historically, the
Catholic Church has been a
patron of sciences. It has been prolific in the foundation and funding of schools, universities, and hospitals, and many
clergy have been active in the sciences.
Some historians of science such as Pierre Duhem credit medieval Catholic mathematicians and philosophers such as John Buridan, Nicole Oresme, and Roger Bacon as the founders of modern science.
[1] Duhem found "the mechanics and physics, of which modern times are justifiably proud, to proceed by an uninterrupted series of scarcely perceptible improvements from doctrines professed in the heart of the medieval schools."
[2] Historian John Heilbron says that "The Roman Catholic Church gave more financial and social support to the study of astronomy for over six centuries, from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment, than any other, and probably all, other Institutions."
[3] The
conflict thesis and other critiques emphasize the historical or contemporary conflict between the Catholic Church and science, citing, in particular, the
trial of Galileo as evidence. For its part, the Catholic Church teaches that science and the Christian faith are complementary, as can be seen from the
Catechism of the Catholic Church which states in regards to faith and science:
Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth. ... Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God despite himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.
[4]
Catholic scientists, both religious and lay, have led scientific discovery in many fields.
[5] From ancient times, Christian emphasis on practical charity gave rise to the development of systematic nursing and hospitals and the Church remains the single largest private provider of medical care and research facilities in the world.
[6] Following the
Fall of Rome, monasteries and convents remained bastions of scholarship in Western Europe and clergymen were the leading scholars of the age – studying nature, mathematics, and the motion of the stars (largely for religious purposes).
[7] During the Middle Ages, the Church founded Europe's
first universities, producing scholars like
Robert Grosseteste,
Albert the Great, Roger Bacon, and
Thomas Aquinas, who helped establish the scientific method.
[8]
During this period, the Church was also a major patron of
engineering for the construction of elaborate cathedrals. Since the Renaissance, Catholic scientists have been credited as fathers of a diverse range of scientific fields:
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) pioneered
heliocentrism,
René Descartes (1596-1650) father of
analytical geometry and co-founder of
modern philosophy,
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) prefigured the theory of
evolution with
Lamarckism, Friar
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) pioneered
genetics, and Fr
Georges Lemaître (1894-1966) proposed the
Big Bang cosmological model.
[10] The
Society of Jesus has been particularly active, notably in
astronomy; the Papacy and the Jesuits initially promoted the observations and studies of
Galileo Galilei, until the latter was put on trial and forced to recant by the
Roman inquisition. Church patronage of sciences continues through institutions like the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences (a successor to the
Accademia dei Lincei of 1603) and
Vatican Observatory (a successor to the
Gregorian Observatory of 1580).
[11]
According to historian
John L. Heilbron, "Between 1650 and 1750, four Catholic churches were home to the best solar observatories in the world. Built to fix an unquestionable date for Easter, they also housed instruments that threw light on the disputed geometry of the solar system."
[12]
en.wikipedia.org
